The Prizes

Over $46,000 in cash, prizes, and benefits will be awarded to this year’s winning screenwriters and Official Finalists.

Judges will bestow awards in the following tiers for each of the competitive entry categories:

Grand Prize Winner

Gold Winner

Silver Winner

Bronze Winner

12 Official Finalists

In addition, one Grand Jury Prize will be awarded to the overall best screenplay selected from among all competition categories as determined by our Official Jury.

Winners and Official Finalists will also receive prize packages and/or benefits including products and services from our sponsors and partner companies.

Also, and very importantly, in conjunction with our sponsors InkTip, Scriptwriters Network, and Script Pipeline, we will actively publicize and promote your winning script, giving you a shot at breaking into the industry and becoming a working screenwriter.

Prize packages consist of combinations of the following prizes and benefits from our sponsors:

Exclusive Advisory Meeting with Matt Misetich, Director of Development for Script Pipeline.

Exclusive Advisory Meeting with Hollywood Production Company, Unique Features

Exclusive Advisory Meeting with Award-Winning Producer, Peter Katz

Annual Memberships to Script Pipeline's Writers Database

Review from Script Pipeline's Writers Workshop

Phone consultation with Script Pipeline's Director of Development

Annual Memberships to Scriptwriters Network

Software Packages from Sony Creative Software

InkTip Script Listing

Free Entry to the Hollywood Screenplay Contest

Script Coverage Package

Advisory Meeting with Summit Talent and Literary AgencyFor over 11 years, the Summit Talent and Literary Agency has represented talented writers and directors in television and film. Our clients' film credits include LIAR, LIAR, HIGH CRIMES, ALVIN & THE CHIPMUNKS 1&2, THE LITTLE RASCALS, HEARTBREAKERS, 9 to 5 THE BROADWAY MUSICAL, WISHMASTER, and HELLRAISER. Warren Smith wrote and directed his first short film at the Maine Media Workshops in Rockport at the age of eighteen. He would later return there to intern in talent and locations management. The short film was entitled For A Few, and received the Senior Thesis award from Gould Academy where Warren attended boarding school. He attended the UNC School of the Arts for film making, but soon after his return to the states he was diagnosed with Crohns and spent the next four months in a hospital bed, forced to postpone his education at UNCSA Warren began to write as a source of escape from that hospital bed. In his four years there he wrote and produced three short films. After graduation working with a team of two UNCSA alumni a plan was hatched to raise the financing for a movie that would be shot in the mountains of North Carolina where Warren grew up. Working with Jake Laguardia who would go on to direct the film, Warren created a story around locations he knew the crew would have access to. This enabled the production to be executed for a fraction of what anyone had thought possible, delivering a product that has the look of a much higher budget production. With his brother Warren co founded Parting Song Pictures, a content production, management, and marketing firm. Warren Smith now works at the Summit Talent and Literary Agency.Recipients: Grand Jury Prize Winner

InkTip Script ListingA listing of your script on InkTip so that producers and reps can find you. InkTip helps writers sell their scripts and get representation. Producers have made more than 200 films from scripts and writers they found through InkTip.Recipients: Grand Prize Winners of Action/Adventure, Thriller, Comedy, Horror, Drama, Biographical/Historical, Family Film, Science Fiction, TV Sitcom, TV Drama, Reality TV Concept

Script Pipeline Writers Database MembershipScript Pipeline discovers and develops writers for film and television, ultimately connecting them with Hollywood's top literary agents, managers, and producers. For over 12 years, the company has been one of the top screenplay analysis and circulation services, linking up-and-coming writers with influential executives. Through its consulting services, research tools, and annual writing and idea competitions, Script Pipeline continues to foster writers worldwide and offer unprecedented access to the industry. A 1-year membership to Script Pipeline's Writers Database will be awarded to the Overall Grand Prize Winner, Grand, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Prize Winners of each category. The Grand Prize Winner from various categories will receive an overall review from Script Pipeline's Writers Workshop, or phone consultation with Script Pipeline's Director of Development, Matt Misetich, for additional notes and potential industry exposure. For the last 12 years, Matt has worked almost exclusively in development as a script analyst and story consultant for production companies, managers, writing competitions, and independent filmmakers. He has been a core executive at Script Pipeline since 2008 and has helped a number of writers break into the industry, including contest-winners Evan Daugherty (Snow White and the Huntsman, Divergent), Tripper Clancy (The Ambassadors), and several Pipeline contest finalists and Workshop "Recommends."Recipients: All Grand Prize Winners, Gold Prize Winners, Silver Prize Winners, Bronze Prize Winners

Advisory Meeting with Unique FeaturesUnique Features is an independent company that was launched in 2008 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne, who together built New Line Cinema into an industry powerhouse. The company is currently developing and producing several film and television projects, including HEAVY RAIN, based on the internationally acclaimed video game from Quantric Dream with screenplay written by David Milch; an animated adaptation of Paul McCartney’s illustrated book HIGH IN THE CLOUDS to be directed by Rob Minkoff, written by Josh Klausner with original music by McCartney; SAILING TO BYZANTIUM, based on the award winning novella by Robert Silverberg; FRENCH LESSONS, based on the successful novel written by Ellen Sussman; MIDDLE EARTH, an original screenplay by Angus Fletcher; as well as a remake of the Japanese thriller RETALIATION (1968) in a co-production with the Japanese studio Nikkatsu. In television, the company is developing an original television series for Showtime with Bennett Miller and Kristin Gore and is also working with The History Channel on an event mini-series based on the epic WWII nonfiction bestseller THE LIBERATOR, written by Alex Kershaw.Recipients: Grand Prize Winners of Horror, Thriller, and Action/Adventure

Scriptwriters Network Membership The Scriptwriters Network, founded in 1986, is a volunteer-driven organization created by writers for writers and industry professionals. The Network serves its members by providing educational programming, enhancing their awareness of the realities of the business, developing access and opportunity through alliances with industry professionals, and furthering the cause and quality of writing in the entertainment industry. A membership is as varied as the guest speaker list, which includes Movie Screenwriters, Showrunners, Executive Producers, Directors, Television Writers, Video Game & Comic Book Writers, Novelists, Actors, Editors, Agents, Managers, Professors, Career Experts, Accountants, and many more. The top winners of the Comedy category will each receive a complimentary membership to the Scriptwriters Network database. Recipients: Grand, Gold, Silver, and Bronze Prize Winners of Comedy

Advisory Meeting with Award-Winning Producer, Peter KatzPeter Katz is an award-winning producer/innovator who has been featured in Mashable, Wired, and CNN's The Screening Room. He has produced critically acclaimed feature films that have premiered at AFI Fest and the Rome Film Festival. A producer on Mortuary, helmed by legendary director Tobe Hooper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Poltergeist), his next feature was Pop Skull, directed by Adam Wingard (A Horrible Way to Die and You're Next). Recently, he produced the short film Already Gone, starring Shawn Ashmore (X-Men) and Harry Shum Jr (Glee), which is being adapted into a full length movie. Katz is currently developing projects for film, TV, and the web and co-hosts Hollywood 2.0, a podcast covering transmedia storytelling, ARG, augmented reality, neurocinema, and beyond.Recipients: Gold Prize Winners of Horror, Thriller, and Science Fiction

Vegas™ Pro 12 Professional Video, Audio and Blu-Ray Disc Creation SoftwareVegas™ Pro 12 is an integrated, forward-thinking production environment designed for a new generation of creative professionals. Combining a familiar track-based timeline with hundreds of thoughtful workflow innovations, Vegas Pro 12 is a refreshing, modern approach to post-production. Supporting more formats, more workflows, and more creative control than ever before, Vegas Pro 12 makes it easy to deliver your message and express your artistic vision.Recipients: Grand Prize Winners of Action/Adventure, Thriller, Horror, Drama, Biographical/Historical

Sound Forge Pro 10 Professional Digital Audio Production SuiteSound Forge™ Pro 10 software efficiently and reliably provides audio editors and producers complete control over all aspects of audio editing and mastering. Whether in the studio or field, it's the ultimate all-in-one production suite for professional audio recording and mastering, sound design, audio restoration, and Red Book CD creation. New features in Sound Forge Pro 10 include precise event-based editing, integrated disc-at-once CD burning, musical instrument file editing and processing, and pristine audio conversion and time stretching.Recipients: Grand Prize Winners of Comedy, Science Fiction, Television Sitcom, Television Drama, Television Spec Script

ACID Pro 7 Professional Digital Audio WorkstationACID Pro 7 is a DAW powerhouse that combines full multitrack recording and mixing, MIDI sequencing, and our legendary ACID looping functionality for a seamless music-creation and post-production environment. More creative partner than production tool, ACID Pro 7 software inspires like nothing else. With its Transparent Technology™ design, ACID Pro 7 software removes typical barriers to the creative workflow so you can effortlessly transform ideas into real results.Recipients: Grand Prize Winners of all categories